The One Quality All Entrepreneurs Should Never Sacrifice
In 1986 two siblings emigrated from Brittany, France to New York City to launch a restaurant unlike any other — one that would define the level of excellence in dining experience. Today, Le Bernardin is regarded not only as one of the best restaurants in New York City, but one of the best in the world.
What makes Le Bernardin so special?
Le Bernardin’s first chef and founding partner Gilbert Le Coze aspired to excellence in everything; from personally choosing the fish he would serve for dinner, to the manner in which his guests were greeted by the maître d’. This obsession with consistency and aim to deliver the highest standard of service by creating the ultimate experience for every client is what made Le Bernardin stand out in 1986, and is what continues to differentiate it from its competitors today.
Yet, prior to opening his doors to the public, Le Coze ran into some trouble: he was not able to hire the proper wait staff, and he had difficulty with the location of the restaurant — it was not what he initially had in mind.
While external environmental factors threatened to negatively impact the launch of his restaurant, Le Coze saw that by taking time to adapt to his environment and to prepare, he could solve many of his problems. Le Coze pushed back the opening of Le Bernardin until he could adjust to these unforeseen circumstances. While he aimed for perfection, he knew that he would need to maintain a certain level of flexibility in order to achieve the best results and succeed in his business.
What we can learn from Le Bernardin
Every successful entrepreneur knows that there is a skill in knowing how to pursue excellence whilst maintaining flexibility. In the case of Le Bernardin, flexibility was about more than just the ability to adapt to the external environment; it was about waiting until things were ready before opening to the public. Playing this waiting game enabled the restaurant to deliver the very best quality of service.
When I heard this story it reminded me a lot of the early days of LexION Capital. When I initially announced I would open my firm I experienced a “reverse curse.” In the first 6 months, we had more people wanting to open accounts at LexION Capital than we could handle. From the beginning it was extremely important to me to be able to provide customers with the very best level of service I could offer, so I temporarily closed my doors until I felt confident that I could provide excellent service to each new client that signed on.
Today, LexION Capital continues to deliver excellence in everything; and we are able to do so thanks in part to our initial attitude. By briefly stepping off the playing field to get things organized, we were able to improve our service to a level we could be proud of — across the board.
For budding entrepreneurs, it is important to strive to deliver your best every step of the way. Striving for excellence will always serve you well, and part of that is knowing when to take a step back and ask yourself whether or not the product or service you aim to deliver is your best and final, and if not, how it can be improved.
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